I Become a Mafia in the Academy

Chapter 90

After that, Jinwoo and I explored various parts of the first floor of the dungeon, but for some reason, we didn't encounter any other living beings except for bugs.

"Ugh... Boss, was this place always this big? It didn't seem this spacious when we came here alone."

Was he tired from the continuous search? Jinwoo muttered while wiping the sweat from his forehead.

As Jinwoo said, this place was far too large to be called the dungeon we knew.

"The dungeon must have changed when it merged with another. We should probably check the surroundings more."

"Right now? Boss, do you know the way around here?"

"It's not hard to grasp the terrain around us."

It seemed there would be no more answers just by walking around, so I decided to use the [Skill: Aura Sonar] again.

[[Skill: Aura Sonar] is activated.]

Bugs. Bugs. Pillar. Bugs. Bugs.

"...It seems like there's nothing on the first floor."

"I thought you sensed them coming earlier, so you must have some kind of skill, huh? Boss Radar... that's amazing..."

Just when I thought he had grown a bit, Jinwoo started spouting nonsense again after the battle ended, so I tried to spread the aura further while ignoring him.

"...Huh?"

I sensed something that shouldn't be there.

"Why is that here?"

* * *

"...What the hell is going on here."

The place where Youngje opened his eyes was a maze full of processed bricks.

Nausea and dizziness overwhelmed him as soon as he opened his eyes.

However, until he understood what was happening, quickly regaining his composure and assessing the situation around him was extremely important.

"...distinto(clearly)."

By using a spell to strengthen his mental power, Youngje overcame the rising nausea and headache, and first looked around.

Thanks to the torches hung on the walls, he could at least secure his field of vision.

While doing so, Youngje carefully examined the face of the person lying next to him.

"...Seah?"

The person lying next to him was Kim Seah, a member of Familia and his classmate.

She lay there without any expression, as if she were asleep.

"At least it's not the worst case scenario..."

Seeing Seah, Youngje sighed in relief and decided to wake her up.

As they had fallen into an unfamiliar space, exploring the surroundings was crucial, and this problem would be easily solved if there was a spatial mage.

"Seah. Kim Seah?"

Even when he gently shook her, Seah showed no signs of waking up.

There were no visible injuries.

Judging that she was just asleep like he had been unconscious, Youngje sighed and gathered magic power into his index finger.

"lamentoso(sadly)."

At the same time, transparent droplets began to flow from the tip of his index finger.

Soon, the droplets started falling on Seah's face, and as the force of the water intensified, Seah's expression, which had been motionless until then, began to change.

"Ouch! Ouch! Shia! The ceiling is leaking again... huh? Where am I?"

Startled by the continuous shower of water, Seah jolted up, sitting upright.

"Are you awake?"

"Youngje? What on earth is going on..."

Wiping the droplets off her face with her sleeve, Seah looked around and soon realized she was not in class A but somewhere else, rubbing her eyes.

"This isn't a dream... but what is this..."

"Are you feeling okay? No nausea or anything?"

The first thing Youngje asked was about her physical condition.

Since he had felt intense nausea and headache when he woke up, he thought she might have similar symptoms.

"Huh? Uh... my head hurts a bit, but I'm fine otherwise... Where is this place?"

Was it because she used spatial magic?

Seah only complained of a slight headache.

To this, Youngje shook his head and said,

"I just woke up too, so I don't know. It doesn't seem like a normal place. Can you detect the surroundings?"

"Huh? I, I'll try."

Following Youngje's instructions, Seah put on her unique armament on her right hand and snapped her fingers.

Then, as if sound waves were spreading out, faint purple magic power began to spread around her, and the terrain around them started to appear on the ground.

"It's like this for now... but there's something strange."

The terrain that appeared before them resembled a maze.

Unable to guess what Seah meant by that, Youngje listened carefully to her words.

"I calculated the coordinates here... and it seems like a place we've been to before...?"

"What?"

Youngje was surprised by the unexpected statement.

"You've been here? You?"

"Yes. You must have come here a few times too, Youngje. The coordinates here are the same as the coordinates of the dungeon under the Familia club booth."

Upon hearing Seah's words, Youngje's pupils began to tremble.

Caught in a dungeon in the middle of the academy?

And that dungeon was the one under the club booth?

"...Are you sure?"

"It's hard to say it's certain... the coordinates are distorted, or inverted... but it's definitely related to the dungeon under our club booth."

Listening to Seah's story, Youngje grew more confused and began to recall past memories to understand the situation.

He remembered a phenomenon he had heard about somewhere.

A phenomenon similar to this... it came to him!

"Overlapping dungeon."

"Huh?"

"It's a phenomenon that occurs when a new dungeon forms near an existing dungeon! We learned about it in Dungeon Studies!"

Youngje shouted with a refreshed look, while Seah looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"For an overlapping dungeon to form, a new dungeon must be very close to another dungeon. So, a new dungeon must have formed under the dungeon under Familia's club booth. But why, specifically underground... Ah!"

The conclusion came out simpler than expected.

Someone had intentionally created a dungeon underground.

Someone. Why. Why now?

And the culprit was soon identified.

The song that had come from the speaker before the overlapping dungeon phenomenon occurred. The time when the academy was chaotic due to the freshman welcome party. And the pretext of terrorism in a key area.

"...Villain Alliance."

Youngje couldn't think of anyone else capable of causing such chaos.

And what needed to be done immediately was clear.

"We need to join up with the others."

"Huh?"

"This situation. It's highly likely that it's a terrorist act by the Villain Alliance."

"Terror? Are you saying we've been attacked by terrorists?"

Seah, who hadn't even imagined it was a terrorist attack, widened her eyes in shock.

"Nothing else explains the current situation. We need to increase our numbers before other villains find us. It'll be much safer that way. So, can you quickly check if there are other people nearby?"

"Uh... j-just a moment. I'll check right away!"

Seah moved her fingers earnestly, as if playing an invisible piano.

"At 2 o'clock from me! There are three people!"

"Three people?"

Since they weren't sure if they were villains or academy students, Youngje couldn't rush to them recklessly, so he took out the fountain pen from his front pocket and cast a spell on himself and Seah.

"fioco(softly)."

A gentle breeze passed over their bodies.

"Uh... what's this?"

"It's a spell to lower our presence. If we approach carefully like this, they won't notice us."

"Stealth, huh...!"

"Since we don't know if they are villains or other students."

The two of them, fully prepared, slowly moved their steps according to what had appeared on the detection spell.

A dimly lit space reminiscent of the interior of a castle.

Since the only light illuminating the surroundings were the torches sparsely hung on the walls, the two had no choice but to advance more cautiously.

At that moment.

───! ──! ───!

The sound of metal clashing irregularly began to be heard.

Alerted by this, the two approached the source of the sound cautiously, heightening their vigilance.

Soon, Seah, who had been walking while confirming their position, stopped abruptly in surprise.

'Y-Youngje, just a moment...!'

'Why suddenly?'

'The three have become two...!'

'What? What does that mean?'

'Well... in cases like this, there are usually two possibilities, right? They either lost consciousness... or they died...'

"What?!"

Without realizing it, Youngje shouted loudly and quickly covered his own mouth.

'Then what is the sound I'm hearing now?!'

'I don't know! If one has fallen but they're still fighting, it must be academy students fighting, right?'

"Then this isn't the time to be standing around! Run!"

Are academy students still alive and fighting the villains?

From now on, it was more important to quickly help before the other students got hurt rather than going slowly to avoid being detected.

"Allegro(quickly)!"

Youngje activated a speed buff and ran first towards where the sound was coming from.

Seah, surprised to be left behind, ran hard after him.

"L-let's go together! Give me a buff too!"

As Seah's voice faded into the distance, Youngje turned the corner to see two people engaged in combat before him.

The two were earnestly exchanging blows with swords in hand.

However, there was something strange...

"Die! Die, you wretched woman!"

"That's not enough to kill me. You should have relaxed your wrist and let it flow from there."

"Shut up! Shut up, I say!"

"...But your skills are just too pathetic."

"Aaaaaaah!!"

A man covered in blood from countless small wounds and a girl effortlessly blocking his sword without a single drop of blood on her.

"You should have pulled and struck upward here..."

"Shut up! Please, just shut up!"

"In the end, you're not even worthy of being nourishment."

"You damn...! Urk!"

"Honestly, it wasn't fun... but yeah. Goodbye."

In front of the man who eventually died without making a sound from being stabbed in the lung.

The girl, who had been watching the scene with an expressionless face, soon looked up as if she sensed a presence.

This led to the two recognizing each other.

"...Academy uniform? You're not a villain, I guess?"

"...You are."

Youngje was both surprised and delighted by the unexpected appearance of the person.

The reason being that she was one of the top swordsmen at the academy.

She was one of the names always mentioned when discussing the strongest in the first year.

"Choi Yeon?"

Choi Yeon.

She smiled softly at Youngje, who was wearing the same uniform as her.

"Hello."